[bartvk]

I'm not a native speaker; does gay unequivocally relates to romantic preference? Or can it also simply mean "joyful"?

[3pt14159]

Sometimes people will say "I'm having a gay ol' time" to mean "I'm having a good time" with a bit of a subversive tint to it, since they know that everyone knows that gay to mean happy is completely outdated. The vast majority of the time it means homosexual, even for women.

[peteretep]

It can also be a given name and a surname. However, 99.9% of usage in English these days is sexual orientation related.

[jodrellblank]

I was going to say “and a name which is neither”, but I didn’t realise the atomic bomb dropping superfortress Enola Gay was named for the pilot’s mother.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enola_Gay

[shultays]

It meant joyful at some point but now it mostly evolved into sexual orientation

[C1sc0cat]

It did but not any more.

There is a trope of retired Colonel writing to the Times bemoaning the of gay in its new form. <beat> in the 1960's

[mmm_grayons]

There's still a distinct meani g of happy. For some reason, though, people are trying to stamp it out; I hardly hear it used in new writing.

[CydeWeys]

It's not remotely as nefarious as that, it's just that language evolves over time and conflicting meanings that cause confusion tend to be weeded out.

[pulse7]

"For some reason..." ...the reason is that today "it mostly evolved into sexual orientation" like another commenter said.

[gilrain]

Interestingly, the adverb form is still mostly used in the joyful sense. "The weather cleared, and the people danced gaily."